Customer Reviews

Detour [1945] [Remastered Edition]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Five stars for the movie. I agree that this is a great work of film noir.

I knew upfront that the print quality of this film would be less than perfect. So, in order to get the very best print, I purchased all three DVDs that were available - Alpha Video, Image Entertainment, and the A2zcds.com Remastered Edition.

The A2zcds.com Remastered Edition of "Detour" is a piece of junk. Don't waste your money. It has the picture quality of an amateur You Tube video. The various shades of black and gray are broken down into large digital cubes. The digital cubes are about a half inch in size and dance all over the screen when there is any movement - which is very distracting. Also, for more than half of the movie, from the point of the movie where Tom Neal picks up Ann Savage and they begin talking in the car - the voice audio track is not in sync with the lip movement. You hear what the person says before their lips even move.

The Alpha Video release of "Detour" has problems with its grays. The grays are not crisp and have a very small hint of sepia color. Also the audio seems a little muffled.

The Image Entertainment release of "Detour" while far from perfect is the better one of the three versions currently available.

I have no problems with the movie. But technically, the quality of this disc is beyond terrible. It looks like a YouTube video does when you play it on a 50-inch plasma. Only worse -- compression artifacts, tiling with squares the size of Post-it Notes, banding that looks like 16-bit grayscale. It made the whole thing unwatchable for me. [...]

The Bottom Line:

A "skid row" production, Detour is an incredibly minimalist picture that manages to do a lot with very little and emerges as a interestingly-hard edged psychological thriller of a noir; the Hays Code-enforced ending detracts a little from the spirit of the film, but Detour is a diversion worth taking.

3.5/4

This film has some laughable features technically, but it is not about sets. Well, maybe it is. The dreamy weirdness of this film is actually enhanced by some of its cheap technical features--its soundlot sets, rear-screen driving shots, the fog machine as director's fast friend. But "Detour" is finally about the faces of the lead actors. This is the "Passion of Joan of Arc" (I am thinking of the 1928 version, in which the camera dwells on faces for long, agonizingly beautiful takes) of B-noir.

Low budget film turned into a great piece. If you are a Noir collector this film is a must have to your collection. Ann Savage really makes the movie. If it wasn't for her this movie would be a disaster. Savage just dishes out insults left and right making you laugh out load. The quality isn't so great but you wont be disappointed in the movie at all and that's why I'm giving it 5 stars.

I too have purchased many copies of this particular film hoping for a decent copy that is watchable. I tried the Alpha copy, Image Entertainment and this copy. Out of the three, this one had the best interactive menu, packaging, and best video quality. I thew the others out, and kept this one.

The video could use improvement, but with any 70 year old movie, there are always things that look bad.

The sound was amazing, never expected such clear audio.

Buy this one.

I bought this for my parents anniversary. It was a great surprise since they hadn't seen it since there first date after the war.

I had first bought a VHS in fear that they didn't have a DVD player, but they did so I bought this copy (which turns out to be a hundred times better video quality than the VHS obviously)

Very happy with the purchase, and the remastered quality.

Detour [1945] [Remastered Edition]One Great Film.One Big Rippoff. A2ZCDS is the kind of chit you find at places like dollar general for a buck or two. I got burned for way more than that when you factor in shipping. Would love to have this (REMASTERED)by a reputable remaster-er. Wal Mart has the Image version for about ten bucks, I hope that will fair better, anyone know if this would be just another of the same? Amazon advertises the Image version but it says Image/ Alpha? I would not touch another Alpha Video product even if it was free. That is like watching a B&W movie with scatched up cheap sunglasses with earplugs. I took my copy of A2ZCDS to trade in and they would not even take it. I asked why and they said the disk was homeade and not the real deal. I hate all these basement/ garage knockoffs and they have the nads to call it remastered? Leason learned-Always read the reviews and the product info , and if you are not familiar with the name of the studio-Steer Clear!Detour [1945] [Remastered Edition]